Writers, here’s the recipe for grandma’s old-fashioned social media pie

This is a post by Novel Publicity President, Emlyn Chand/ I blog a lot about the power of Twitter. As amazing and wonderful and enchanting as Twitter is, it’s only one piece of the online writer platform pie. Take that pie (let’s make it apple) and cut it up into four equal-sized pieces—go ahead, I’ll wait.

Now, that first piece of gooey deliciousness, that’s for your blog. I debated giving a bigger piece or platform pie to the blog, but 1) that would have messed with my nice even fractions, and 2) a blog needs traffic to recognize its full potential—the other pieces of the pie will help make this one as delicious and irresistible as can be!

Alright, ready for some more pie? Slide the second piece out of the pan—it should come a bit easier now that you’ve already removed one hulking piece. There, just like that. This piece represents Twitter. Twitter is an especially nummy bit for writers. You can spend hours and hours indulging in Twitter pie without ever really losing your appetite. The beauty of Twitter is that it makes connecting to new people who share your interests (and are potential readers of your work) quick and easy. It’s also a phenomenal way to draw new traffic to your blog.

Next piece! That’s Facebook, yummy. You’ve probably partaken of Facebook pie lots of times, but maybe you were serving up pumpkin instead of apple. If Twitter is a great way to get new people coming to your blog, Facebook is an even better way to keep them coming back. You can engage your existing follower base, set up some fun features (that might not be possible on your blog unless you have a webhost), and be a presence that nobody can ignore—well, unless they “unlike” you. J I’ve put this piece of pie on a shiny china dish with a royal blue paisley border, doesn’t it look good? We’re going to partake of it soon, I promise, but first I need to tell you what’s in that final piece of pie, the lone fourth that has been waiting for us all this time.

Somehow this final piece tastes a little bit different than the rest. In fact, in may be a bit overwhelming to some palates. The rest of your pie was seasoned with sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg—all very simple and expected things once you know your way around the kitchen. This piece, oh this piece, also has brown sugar, cardamom, and anise. A little more than you’re used to, is it? Well, it’s a bit of an acquired taste. The good thing is that if provides a nice change from your normal recipe, you’ll appreciate grandma’s old-fashioned social media pie all the better after having tried this kooky new age pie. What’s in there you ask? There’s a healthy dash of StumbleUpon, a pinch of Reddit, a heaping spoonful of YouTube, a measure of GoodReads, and oh, there’s even a touch of MySpace.

Oh my, I’m stuffed! I can’t believe we just ate all that pie! What’s that you say? We left behind one piece? Oh, yes, the Facebook pie on its spotless little dish. Ugh, I’m just too stuffed to eat another bite. Can’t we save it for later? No really, I’m just gonna put some plastic wrap over it and place it here in the freezer. It will taste just as good next week when we pull it out, and eat it slowly, savoring each beautiful bite.

That’s right, come back next week, and we’ll dissect that pie. I’ll tell you all the reasons why you need a Facebook author page (even if you’re still unpublished) and give you tips for how to get it started. Meanwhile, I think you might consider a change to your diet 🙂

Emlyn Chand was born with a fountain pen grasped firmly in her left hand (true story). Novel Publicity's mascot is a Sun Conure, thanks to her obsession with birds–and she gets to decide anyway since she is the company's founder and president. Although her first novel Farsighted won the prestigious Writer's Digest Self-Published Novel of the Year award in 2012 for the YA category, she now writes most of her fiction under her “real” name, Melissa Storm. Learn more or connect with her (or her Sun Conure, Ducky!) on either of her author websites: www.emlynchand.com or www.melstorm.com. You can also friend her on Facebook, tweet with her @novelpublicity, or send her an email via [email protected].